Hard

Another class action suit was filed against Triton Energy onbehalf of shareholders alleging the company misrepresented thevalue of its assets and prospects for the company. The most recentsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District ofTexas on behalf of those who acquired common stock on or betweenMarch 30 and July 17, says statements by the company and certainexecutives drove its stock price up during the class period.

The Williams Companies was hit hard in the second quarter likemany other energy trading companies, posting a $58 million drop innet income from 2Q97. But a large portion of its trouble stemmedfrom a FERC ruling that challenged the rate-making methodology insome markets served by the company’s petroleum products pipeline.Williams took a $15.5 million charge to cover customer refundsordered by FERC, but said it plans to appeal the July 15 ruling.Williams also still is suffering from merger-related charges. Ittook a $6.1 million MAPCO merger-related charge and recordedanother $3.4 million in costs as general corporate expenses relatedto the merger.

Peace lasted less than two months in the Canadian natural gascommunity. Now comes the hard part of its April 8 agreement onpipeline regulation and competition – thrashing out what it meansin a contest over a small project with big implications.

FERC yesterday gave its blessing to a hard-fought fundingsettlement that provides the road map for the Gas ResearchInstitute to begin its seven-year journey to become avoluntarily-funded organization.

It hardly came as a surprise to anyone when cash prices took along, hard fall Thursday. The previous day’s screen dive had givena none-too-subtle signal of where cash was going. Double-digitdecreases were prevalent at virtually all points, with some lossesreaching 20 cents.